Palin vs. Polar Bear – Round 2 (Ding!)

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Actually, it’s more like Palin vs. Facts. What’s a governor to do when facts get in the way? Read on…

Rick Steiner, (University of Alaska Marine Advisory professor, and environmental superhero) through a public records request, has acquired an email that the Palin administration didn’t want you to see. Basically, it says that yes, the Alaska state biologists DID agree with the Federal assessment leading to their listing (begrudgingly) of the polar bear as ‘threatened’ under the Endangered Species Act. They agreed with this despite the Palin administration’s vehement opposition to the listing, and in direct conflict with Palin’s statement that the state biologists found nothing to support the ‘threatened’ listing… Innnnteresting…

Cover-up, or just plain denial? It reminds me of that classic Seinfeld line. I believe it was George Costanza who said, “It isn’t a lie if YOU believe it.” And Sarah just keeps on believin’….so much so that she’s actually going to sue the government. Yes, that’s right. If you can’t handle the truth, just litigate it to death.

And despite Palin’s recent veto of $268 million dollars from the state budget, axing things like safety improvements at Klatt Elementary School, money for fire stations, road improvements, emergency services, etc., guess what survived the ruthless red pen? $2 million to get a bunch of people in a room to talk about how scientists are “of differing opinions” about whether the melting of the polar ice cap will indeed affect the polar bears. Perhaps, we can make this an annual tradition. Next year I propose holding a summit to discuss whether putting a large flame under a pot of crab will result in dinner. We can’t really be sure you know. That’s like trying to ‘project into the future’. I mean, what are we – cooks or fortune tellers for crying out loud?

And who’s paying for this $2,000,000 Flat Earth Society Conference? You and me. If someone handed you a $2 million check to spend on the state, where would you spend it? I doubt many of us would put our money toward rehashing this issue that even the ‘petrol-philes” in the Federal Government can’t deny, lest they look like idiots.

But not us…we’ve got a state government that either doesn’t know or doesn’t care that they’re making us look like idiots. Again.

In the meantime, the polar bear above is one Alaskan bear that is blissfully ignorant of all this….he’s in the Alaska Zoo. Regardless of the outcome of Sarah’s lawsuit, this may be the only place to see one in Alaska by 2050.